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From horror stories in the army to scary tales in school dorms, Korea has a plethora of hauntings going on. Check out these spooky web postings that will definitely give you goosebumps. Don't forget to read this article with the lights off.
Disclaimer: These stories may or may not be true. The article has no intention of bearing any relation to actual events, people, etc. The stories are gathered from various Korean web posts and boards.
Hide and Seek Alone
This is a popular game originating from Japan, and Korean students have tried this spooky game of hide and seek involving a voodoo doll on more than one occasion. One student told a personal story of playing this, including details of every step they followed in order to play and not become possessed by the evil spirit. Starting at 3:00 am, it involves making or buying a doll that has legs. It is recommended to not use a favorite or human-like doll, as the doll must be discarded and it will be harder to remove once possessed. It is also said giving the spirit a name is the most powerful thing a human can do for the spirit, as names give spirits great power. Rice is offered to the spirit in order for it to grow strong enough to chase you. Red thread is also used and symbolizes blood in order to act as a restraint.
The story further revealed you must offer something from your body. It's usually fingernails, but some use their own blood, skin, hair, etc. But be warned, if it isn't your own, the doll becomes cursed and will hunt down that person instead. You also need something to stab the doll with so that you can either anger or kill it. Real knives are dangerous, so people often use pencils or needles. The most important thing is banishing the evil doll once the game is over. Salt water or alcohol is the only way. Without this, the game won't end. It is used to clean and remove the spirit. However, the teller of this story said the demon tried chasing them out of their own home. Are you ready to play?
Unknown Phone
A woman told a spooky tale of when she was younger and saw the Korean film 'Phone' (?) and decided to call the cursed girl's number shown in the film. Although the number was believed to be fake since it ringed endlessly, the woman had noticed something strange the next day. As she looked through her call logs the number was saved as 'PHONE.' She begged her friends to call the number, but none would dare do the same.
After all these years nothing had happened, and she tried calling the number again but it would always be unavailable. She still wonders why it only rang that one time and somehow automatically saved into her phone as a contact. She still remembers the number and posted it on the community board: 011-9998-6644. I dare you to call it.
Death In The Gym
A young girl told the story of how she was a cheerleader and often visited opponents' gyms during tournaments with her team. They had a weekend game on a Friday night and Saturday morning, so they spent the night there. After the game that Friday night, they prepared their sleeping bags in the middle of the gym floor. The gym had multiple basketball hoops surrounding them. Night soon fell and as all the girls were sound asleep, one woke up because of a suspicious noise: someone dribbling a basketball across the court.
She figured she was hearing things and went back to sleep. However, another basketball began dribbling, so she awoke to look around more. She saw a boy about the same age as her, holding a basketball and staring menacingly. "I was startled by his cold, angry, yet sad look," she wrote. She ruffled the sleeping bag and closed her eyes in fear. She opened her eyes again, and the boy was no longer to be seen.
The next morning, she met up with a friend from the rival school and shared this experience. It was revealed her description of the boy fit the features of a boy who committed suicide on the same courts just three days before.
The Man in Black
A girl and her large family had been living together in an apartment for a long time. One night, while her father was using the karaoke machine, she decided to close her door, turn off the lights, and sleep. Too tired, she forgot to lock it, and suddenly noticed the door creaked open slowly. Thinking it was her sister, she shouted back at her, "I'm tired, let me sleep. Ugh!" Then suddenly, the door creaked again and louder. She sat up and looked at the door. No one was there but there was enough space for a head to peer through. Feeling bothered, she turned on her lights, shut her door, turned the lock and tried going to sleep again.
The next morning when she went to go wash her hair, she started hearing agonizing screams. Once she looked up, she suddenly saw a black figure watching her and dash into the nearby room. She then asked her mom if she heard any noises, but she replied no hastily. One day she decided to tell her sister about the stories, and the sister revealed she has seen the tall, dark eerie figure before. The figure watches her sleep and stands by her doorway, leaving the door open just a crack.
The Restless Man
A German man shared that he had countless encounters with scary shadows and figures as a child. He further revealed that when he traveled and lived in Korea, he had encountered a Korean demon. While sleeping, he felt something move the blankets slowly.
He continued to sleep, but then he woke up abruptly and could only see a blaring white color. While he knew he was awake, he couldn't move his body. He was forcing his body to move so hard from the paralysis that he started to shake uncontrollably until his vision cleared up. After calling his girlfriend, she revealed that in Korea there are demons that will forcefully push and hold you down if you try to wake up from their nightmare.
Crying in the Dark
Before moving to America with his family, a Korean man revealed that his family had rented out a very cheap apartment. After studying late into the night for too long and feeling a bit sick, he decided he should rest. He suddenly started feeling cold and scared for some reason. Then, from a distance, he started hearing a girl crying. The crying continued for 5 minutes. Too scared to move or say anything, he just listened to the crying when suddenly the crying halted with a shrieking scream.
But that is not all! The man further revealed what happened next was the really chilling part. The TV and VCR stand was at the end of the bed with some space in between for walking. The clocks were not set and always flashed 12:00 every few seconds. As he laid there frozen, he was afraid to blink.
All he could see in his pitch black room was the 12:00 on the VCR blinking. Then, all of a sudden, after hearing another scream, the 12:00 that he was carefully looking at disappeared. Someone or something was standing in front of it. He couldn't see anything because it was pitch black in the room but the 12:00 had disappeared without warning. So scared, he shut his eyes and began to pray. Upon opening his eyes there was the 12:00 blinking like normal. When the sun came up, there was no evidence of anything being in the room or malfunctions in the VCR connections.
A Korean Wife's Haunting
While her husband was serving in Korea, this woman was living alone in their apartment for some time. It was another normal night as she called her husband before going to bed around 12:00 am. She started having a dream that she had dreamt once before. But instead of what normally happened in the dream, an unknown force was on her back with two handfuls of her hair, holding her down.
She woke up startled but blew it off thinking it was just a nightmare until a short time later something happened. It was 5:00 am and the dream resumed where it had left off. Suddenly, she heard a Korean man's voice talking; it was very deep, but she could not make out any words. It sounded as if he was hissing the words. Suddenly, she heard knocking, and the chairs being scooted around. This went on for about an hour. Then the spirit started scratching the walls. It started soft and short at first, then it got harder and louder, increasing each time.
Finally, she panicked and turned on all the lights in the house. It stopped. She looked around to find all the chairs moved, some things disheveled, and scratch marks on the wall. She soon left their apartment and never returned.
The Revenge of The River Spirit
A man serving in the Korean Army revealed that, despite being skeptical, he was once warned by a fortune teller to stay away from rivers as it would lead him to his death. One day, there was a flood in a nearby town and the Army was sent to remove the dead bodies from the river. As he went, he noticed that only hair was drifting above the water. He called his commander and was immediately told not to touch it and return back to camp.
Upon his return he had discovered another man had tried to pull out the bodies but was grabbed and pulled into the water himself. He drowned to death and his body was nowhere to be found. It was revealed by the commander that there are water spirits called 'mul gwishin (water ghost)' in the river and they stand underwater, waiting to drown their next victim.
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